Bonarelli, Prospero. (1588–1569) [Callot, Jacques. (1592–1635)]. Il Solimano. Tragedia. . Firenze: Pietro Cecconcelli. 1620. First edition. Small 4to. (160 x 215 mm). 1f. (pictorial title including the arms of the Medici), 1f. (dedication to the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Cosimo II), 2ff. ("Lettera del Sor. Giovambatista Strozzi all'Autore"), [v] (letters to Ottavio Rinuccini, Andrea Salvadori, Niccolo Strozzi, and Gabriello Chiabrera), [i] (cast list), [ii] (set design), pp. 3-31, [ii] (set design), 41-63, [ii] (set design), 65 - 94, [ii] (set design), 95 - 138, [ii] (set design), 139 - 162, 1f. (recto errata, verso colophon). With occasional decorative initials and woodcut head- and tailpieces and including 6 etchings by Jacques Callot (cf. Meaume) comprising the illustrated title-page, and 5 double-page plates representing the stage settings by Jacques Callot after the designs of Giulio Parigi. With the usual pp. 33-40 misnumberedd 41-48 and p. 89 misnumbered 98. Trimmed margins, but overall a very bright and fresh copy of this early 17th Century "Turkish" opera. Berlin Katalog 4112; Brunet I, 1089;Cicognara 1086 ('bellissime figure, prove freschissime); Gamba 1810 ('Tra le molte edizioni di questa tragedia e' la presente molto ricercata per la vaghezza delle figure'); Lieure 363-368; Sartori 22249. Allacci 729-730. Schaal 861. Wotquenne p. 132.


Bonarelli's great tragedy was first performed in Florence in 1618. Jacques Callot illustrated the work, following the designs of his tutor and colleague, Giulio Parigi, an architect and the chief designer of courtly festivities under the Grand Duke, Cosimo II de' Medici. Both Parigi and Callot were employed by the Medicis, and this is one of the last books Callot produced for the Florentine family. 'The dramatic finale shows the city of the tyrant Soliman in flames, the moveable scenes -- THE FIRST IN THE HISTORY OF THE THEATRE -- picture contemporary Florence. The whole of its effective contrasts of dark and light seems fantastic, yet it is the rational and realistic portrait of a fantastic, imaginary subject." (Otto Benesch, Artistic and Intellectual Trends from Rubens to Daumier, Cambridge, 1942, p.17).


"One of the earliest Turkish operas was written in 1619 by the Italian Prospero Bonarelli..., whose Il Solimano... became the blueprint for many eponymous operas and for other operas that employed elements of its plot. Solimano is representative of a group of operas that mix political intrigue with interpersonal drama and articulate questions related to political power through the staging of family conflict." (Nina Berman, "German Literature on the Middle East: Discourses and Practices, 1000-1989," p. 115)